Reports
Regatta Report
by Mike Gehrling, Black Pearl, PCX118
For all the work Mark from Slàinte did to set up the nationals and all the work the crews did to get their boats ready for the Nationals, it would be wrong not to have a comment or two about the event.
First I thought Raritan Bay is a great place to run a race. Stay away from the channel on the far side and you don't have to worry about the 600 foot tankers or container vessels transiting. On the other hand it's a large relatively shallow bay so you don't have to worry about these ships drifting onto the race course. Raritan Yacht club ran a nice series with good food and entertainment Friday and Saturday Night. And what was going on with that mid 40's tall women in the red dress dancing on Saturday night? Boy she had some serious prime-evil stuff going on on the dance floor. I wonder which boat she was on. Great entertainment all around!! And the band was good too!
Saturday we waited a while for the winds to kick in and while one of my crewmembers at first was disappointed that only 6 boats showed up for the Nationals, I assured them all that with the quality of the crews on these 6 boats would make sure you regret any small mistake you make on the race course. In the afternoon the Race committee, after watching approaching ominous thunderstorms in the west for some reason just dissipate, got two races off in 5 to 7 knots of breeze and the races were indeed intense and tight through each leg. At 4PM, after the second race and fearing the forecast for Sunday, we on Black
Pearl begged the PRO for a third race, to no avail.
Sunday started off as
the forecast promised HOT with no wind. Just to give everyone outside
the New York area an idea how tough this month has been, I just got
my electric bill. On the bill it shows the average temp for the month
compared to last year. This year's average temp is up 7 degrees from
last year. You don't need a meteorologist to know that this is a HUGE/HOT
increase. Back to Sunday, did I say it was hot!!! We drifted around
for a long time and around 1PM the Race committee themselves begrudgingly
left the air conditioned club to come out to the course area. With
a very clear sky we were seeing 1 to 2 knots of wind and while we sailed
slowly around practicing in this stuff and watched Whacko with
their wind seeker, we were downing bottled waters left and right. I
thought 43 waters onboard would be good for the day. The crew let me
know it was just not enough. I would like to thank the Mount Gay Rum
[Prudential Bank] guy for driving around in his skiff tossing bottled
waters to all the boats he passed. This may have single handily prevented
the crew of Black Pearl from throwing the
skipper into the water and leaving him behind. Thanks again.
Well we finally got a race off in 2 knots of wind. Upwind, the Soverel's sailed well and most of us met at the windward mark. The downwind leg back to the finish was grueling. Find the 2 knot puffs on a course with a steady 1 knot wind was going to make all the difference. After a long very frustrating downwind leg, Deviation crossed the line first to win the 2010 Nationals. I would like to congratulate Iris, Bill and rest of the Deviation team for their success. The scores were so close that only 1 point separated the first four boats which brought tie breaker rules in to calculate the final results. And I can assure you that at this point on Sunday none of us crispy critters were asking for another race.
My only regret was that due to the time of the tides through New York Harbor a few of the boats needed to kick their crews off immediately after the race on Sunday to start heading back to their respective home port with the correct tide. So the after race party was missed by Iris and Deviation, Mark and Slàinte and myself and Black
Pearl and maybe others. Thanks to all who made the long trip to get their boat to the Nationals and of course it was good to see Perth Amboy's homeboy, Paul Jeka and Santana. I guess the only real question now is when are we getting together again!!
Regatta Report Followup
by Mark McCarthy, Slàinte,
SVM31
Thanks Mike for the note, meant to followup with the group with a fewadditional insights.
I wanted to share with the entire group how cool it is to travel with your Soverel and race in other area's - the nationals represents a yearly opportunity to travel with your soverel to some really fun places. I have been looking forward to this trip for a while for several reasons, most importantly the competitive racing. If you have never done it, the trip through hells gate and down the east river in NYC was really amazing, from rikers to mutiple bridges, sea planes, ferries, helicopter, large container ships, Manhatten from the water, Statue of Liberty - wow! A must do if you have never done
Next, the Raritan
YC's hospitality was amazing, really accomodating group of people
who allowed us to really use the facility without imposing lots
of rules. Genuineley everyone I talked to there was excited to
see the Soverel33 class and willing to answer questions or help
in any way possible. This was very re-assuring especially after
travelling 115 miles one way by water. On both nights they had
bars, food, Saturday night live band, - great frickin party - really
good fun!!! Also, free moorings, places to store gear, pull up
to docks, etc..
Now for racing - the competition was really tough to say the least. I have been racing Nationals every year for nearly 15 years (except Sodus) and had to say I was the most confident coming into this year with my boat speed. Although not having the entire A team on the boat, the crew work was flawless except for one mark rounding, which proved to be crucial. Racing all weekend was between 0-10kts,
Race 1 being in the
middle of that range. Slàinte was
in a bad position due to light air during start and could not get
back up to the pin quick enough - Santana really
showcased great speed coupled with boat position to round first
at the weather mark. 5-6 boats were all neck and neck throughout
the entire race finishing after two laps all within a few boat
lengths of each other with our team getting squeezed out the back
in 5th place.
Second race, two top
boats Whacko and Santana were
over early and Slàinte, Deviation and
Black Pearl duked it out to be first
around top mark with Slàinte prevailing.
A tough downwind with varying breeze across the course with Deviation hitting
the left corner down wind, Black Pearl the
right and Slàinte trying
to cover. Overall, Slàinte kept
the lead rounding leeward mark first, closeley followed by Deviation and Black
Pearl.
Both Black Pearl and Slàinte tacked
over and went left up the course pacing equal with every inch being
crucial. Slàinte edged out pearl
in the left corner allowing Slàinte to
tack on Black Pearl and extending her
lead to the finish. After this race, 5 boats were within 2 points
of each other - anyones game for Sunday. Santana, Black
Pearl =
5pts, Slàinte =
6pts, Whacko, Deviation = 7pts, Dead
Money = 12pts.
Third Race was started
in 5-7 kts lighting as the race went on. Slàinte, Whacko and Deviation duked
it out for the boat, with Black Pearl and Santana further
down the line. Slàinte tacked
early for the line rolling Deviation prestart,
and won the boat with Whacko right below. Slàinte then
rolled Whacko sending both Whacko, Deviation and Dead
Money out
to the right corner - which later was a big mistake. Slàinte continued
to follow Santana and Black
Pearl (the
two boats that were beating me with Santana having
local knowledge) out to the left - had to pick which two boats
to cover. As the breeze decreased the right side paid huge with Deviation and Whacko beating
the left group by 10-15 boatlengths to the windward mark. Slàinte lead
the pack in from the left and had a really tough windward mark
rounding, and was quick passed by both Black
Pearl and Santana.
Downwind was a drifter, with Deviation,
Whacko, Black Pearl and Dead
Money all
gybe setting, Santana gybing soon after, we decided to hang it
out on the far right down wind. While we brought pressure back,
was too light to pass. A hearbreaker off a race.
Overall - the racing was really great, could have used more consistent breeze. Hats off to all the teams including Dead
Money - they are a newer team with a tough learning curve, sailing against some of the
fastest teams around who are all sucessful in their own ponds. Dead
Money is a great group of guys and glad they made the trip - OD sailing is the best way to learn something new about your boat.
What did I learn? Hiking in 5kts with one or two people forward by the shrouds to totally flatten the boat and footing worked several times in the last two races to help us roll other boats. Feels wrong from a tiller standpoint (neutral helm) - the results were not arguable though.
Thank you to the owners
for their commitment on making this a great event. Congratulations
to Iris, Bill and the Deviation Team for Winning another Natioanals
- how many are you up to? Thanks Vicky for the hospitality!
Next year - proposing Branford CT or Westbrook CT for the Nationals - Let me know your thoughts and we will ballot the Dues Paying Members this year for final approval. HAVE YOU PAID YOUR DUES - PLEASE DO?
